Insider Preview - Storm vs. Atlanta

Certainly, the Dream has sold one interested observer - Seattle Storm Head Coach Brian Agler.

"They're talented," Agler said after the Storm's practice on Friday. "They're as good as there is. I can't tell you Indiana's better."

Agler got a look at Atlanta two weeks ago at Philips Arena in an 88-79 win over the Storm, the second of three straight wins and seven out of eight games for the Dream. Agler felt his team played reasonably well in that game, but was beaten by an opponent who was simply better on the evening.

Since that game, Atlanta has lost forward Chamique Holdsclaw, the team's second-leading scorer at 13.9 points per game. Holdsclaw left the Dream's next game, a win over San Antonio, with soreness in her right knee. On Thursday, Holdsclaw underwent arthroscopic surgery. Officially, she is day-to-day, though it seems unlikely Holdsclaw will play in the near future so quickly after surgery.

Atlanta has lost two of its last three games, though that certainly may well have been the case even with a healthy Holdsclaw. The Dream lost at home to a red-hot L.A. team that had won six straight games before losing last night without Candace Parker, then fell last night at Detroit against a Shock team that won its fourth in a row.

Atlanta was especially well-positioned to replace Holdsclaw because her backup is rookie Angel McCoughtry, the league's No. 1 overall pick who has been highly productive in a sixth-woman role. Limited minutes may have suppressed McCoughtry's per-game stats, but close observers have seen the damage she has done all season, and it has translated into big numbers the last four games - 23.3 points and 3.5 steals per game while shooting 55.0 percent from the field. McCoughtry's talent is electric, from her ability to get to the basket to her work in the passing lanes. The best comparable might be a young Sheryl Swoopes. McCoughtry is still a work in progress and has been prone to turnovers, including six of them Thursday in Detroit, but if the Storm is not sharp McCoughtry can make the defense pay.

The other Dream player who has stepped up in Holdsclaw's absence is former Storm guard Iziane Castro Marques, now Atlanta's leading scorer at 14.0 points per game. Over her last four games, Castro Marques has averaged 22.3 points, including explosions for 26 and 30. Castro Marques, who was notoriously streaky during her time in Seattle, ranks ninth in the league in points per 40 minutes; McCoughtry is second in the same category.

While the wings have led the Dream's offense, Atlanta has been almost equally as effective at the defensive end of the floor. There, credit must go to the frontcourt duo of Erika de Souza and Sancho Lyttle, both of them All-Stars. De Souza and Lyttle are a nice combination because of de Souza's powerful play in the paint and Lyttle's athletic ability which allows her to play on the perimeter. Both de Souza and Lyttle are phenomenal rebounders, which means the Dream is amongst the league's best rebounding teams.

The mix of offensive and defensive talent is a good one for Atlanta, which benefited from having the top pick in the Dispersal Draft (Lyttle) and amateur Draft (McCoughtry) to add talent to a core that was overmatched last season. The Dream still has some work to do to complete the turnaround, however. The loss in Detroit kicked off a lengthy five-game road trip that could make or break the Dream's season. Atlanta will play the top three teams in the Western Conference as well as Sacramento before returning home to finish by hosting Connecticut and playing at Washington.

The Storm secured a playoff berth with Thursday's win over the Sun. Now, it's a matter of establishing positioning over the final six games of the season. The Storm must continue playing well to secure home-court advantage, while the team still hopes to catch Phoenix for the top seed in the Western Conference. The Storm has played some of its best basketball of the season on a homestand which wraps up tonight, winning the first three games to run its season-long winning streak to four straight. The Storm has done it despite All-Star Lauren Jackson being limited by a sore lower back. Jackson remains day-to-day because of the injury.

KEY MATCHUP
	On Thursday, Storm guard Sue Bird was as scoring-minded as she has been all season, looking for her shot early and often. How difficult is Bird to defend when she is so aggressive? "Tough," said Agler after the game. "She's good in pick-and-rolls. If you send too much help to her she'll find open people." Indeed, Bird had 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting and handed out seven assists. Bird could have chances to score again tonight, facing Atlanta rookie Shalee Lehning. Lehning's passing ability has helped the Dream, and she ranks third in the league with 7.0 assists per 40 minutes. However, Lehning is still adjusting to the WNBA's athleticism at the defensive end of the floor.

A back-and-forth, high-scoring affair ended up with the Seattle Storm on the wrong end of an 88-79 final Aug. 15 against the Dream in Atlanta. While the Dream led most of the game, the teams alternated runs as the hosts tried to put the Storm away only to see Seattle come up with an answer. A 9-0 run midway through he fourth quarter gave Atlanta a 13-point lead, but the Storm crawled back as close as four at 83-79 with 44.2 seconds remaining. Lyttle split two free throws, the Storm came up empty on offense and that was that.

The loss overshadowed a historic night for two Storm players. Jackson's first bucket of the game, with 7:36 remaining in the first quarter, was good for her 5,000th career point. At the 7:21 mark of the third period, Swin Cash sunk her second free throw to reach 3,000 points in her WNBA career. Jackson bounced back from a rough outing in Connecticut to lead the Storm with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting and nine rebounds and five steals. Cash and Tanisha Wright scored 12 points apiece while Bird dished out 12 assists, a season high. But the Storm was outrebounded 35-26 and the Dream was efficient on offense in the victory.

INJURIES

Storm - Center Lauren Jackson (sore lower back) is day-to-day. Forward Katie Gearlds (torn left posterior cruciate ligament) is out.

Atlanta - Forward Chamique Holdsclaw (right knee surgery) is day-to-day.